Hail To The Chief
by Boom-De-Ada-Boom-De-Ada
Summary: Merlin and Arthur make a bet. Not quite 'Slash' More in the department of 'Bromance'.


**Greeting's to all the Merlin fan's out there. This is a fanfiction that I've had in mind since the Second Season and you'll see why a little furthur on in the story. I've just never had enough inpulse to write it. But at last here it is. This is to be my first ever Merlin fanfiction that isn't a one-shot so...Here goes nothing.**

**I don't own anything, yadda yadda, Copyright and what not. **

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Merlin's eyes flickered slightly in the darkness. Morning time was almost upon him, as well as the rest of Camelot, and it would soon be time for him to get up. He hated this moment. The moment when he knew he would have to get up soon, but at the same time wanted to go back to sleep for a while. He would have, had he not at the last second remembered his plan. He bolted upright in bed, his eyes flashing open as fast as they could. He didn't even wait for them to adjust to the disposition of the half darkness half brightness of the room. His eyes trailed to the window where the sun was just almost reaching his windowsill. Early. Just as he'd hoped.

Merlin threw back the ragged covers of what Gaius claimed was a blanket and stumbled clumsily out of his bed. His arms flailed wildly as he groped around his room for his clothing. He then remembered, much to his dismay, that for the first time in ages he had folded his clothing and placed it neatly beside his bed.

'_This is why I never clean my room. I don't know where anything is when it's all...organized!_' Merlin reminded himself as he quickly pulled off his nightshirt and preceded to get dressed. A few minutes later Merlin trotted down the short pinch of stairs in front of his door, his hair still a slight bit messy and his clothes just a tad uneven. Merlin gave a glare towards the apothecary who was already up and about, fussing with his pots and brews.

"Good Morning Merlin" Gaius called to the boy, not looking up from a particularly foul smelling pot that was placed in front of him. Merlin continued giving Gaius the glare for a few moments until Gaius finally looked up at him. "What is it?" He asked, taking a step back from the pot.

"Gaius, I asked you to wake me up!" Merlin complained, outstretching his arm in the direction of the window. Gaius gave him a look at told Merlin he had forgotten and was just now remembering the favor Merlin had asked of him the previous night.

"Oh, right...Get up Merlin." Gaius said casually as he noted that Merlin was indeed, already up. Merlin raised his arms over his head and gave Gaius a rather Arthur-ish look of discord. Merlin glanced out the window and noticed the sunlight that was intruding it's way into the room. He decided to let it go as he quickly grabbed a piece of bread to nibble on, and rushed out the door.

Apart from a few mild interruptions involving Arthur's breakfast, Merlin was still on schedule. '_Arthur won't be able to berate me for always being late anymore, 'cause for the first time, I'm gonna be early._' Merlin thought cheerfully to himself as he burst through the doors of The Prince's chambers. There was a muck of clattering and grumpy muttering sounding from deep in the room, and the floor was astrew with clothing and various other objects. "...Sire?" Merlin called out cautiously.

"Merlin! Must you always be late every day!" A very annoyed Prince called out from some location in his room. Merlin gave a bewildered look towards where the voice had sounded from. After a moment Arthur's head appeared, peeking across the door frame that led to where his bed was. "Do you have any idea what time it is Merlin?" Merlin gave a quick look out the window at the sun. It was still fairly low in the sky, and although he could hear voices from the town outside of the palace, he knew that most of Camelot was still asleep.

"But I'm early! It's still...and I..." Merlin tumbled over his words trying to explain his plan for getting up early and being on time, unfortunately Arthur just rolled his eyes and returned behind the door frame to get dressed. Merlin put the plate of food down and attempted to start cleaning up the mess Arthur had made. Arthur deserted his attempted to finish getting dressed and stepped out from behind the door frame in just a pair of pants and walked over the the food that Merlin had placed on the table.

"A bit burnt, try doing better next time Merlin." Arthur complained munching on the meats that were on the plate. Merlin rolled his eyes as he continued working.

"Would it kill you to say 'Thank You' every once in a while?" Merlin asked irritated, not looking over at the Prince.

"What would I thank you for? Your incompetence." Merlin dropped the pile of clothing he had bundled under his arm.

"I suppose you'd rather have GEORGE working for you, eh?" Merlin said to the Prince standing up with his hands on his hips giving Arthur a sarcastic glance.

"At least HE never burnt my food." Arthur glanced at Merlin holding up the meat and examining it.

"It is not burnt, it's...Well done." Merlin justified his response by gesturing to the meat.

"It's ham, how can ham be 'Well Done'?" Arthur looked incredulously from the meat the Merlin. Merlin made a grunt and threw his hands into the air.

"Why can't you just appreciate anything you arrogant...arrogant...Clotpole!" Merlin yelled at him. There was a loud '_Thud' _as Arthur slammed the meat back onto the plate.

"For the last time, Merlin, Clotpole is NOT a word!" He shouted, not looking at Merlin at first but slowly turning his head to give him a condescending look.

Merlin opened his mouth as if to say something but nothing came to mind, so his mouth just hung open for a while before he finally came up with the pitiful response, "Yes it is!"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Merlin, I have never heard anyone but the likes of you, use anything close to the word 'Clotpole'." He explained very slowly and carefully as if he was talking to a child. Merlin stood up straighter as if to show Arthur that he wasn't a kid and didn't need to be treated like one.

"Fine then. I'll prove it. I will prove that Clotpole is a word." Merlin said dropping his hands to his side. Arthur looked at Merlin for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"And just how do you plan on doing that?" Arthur asked after he'd finished having a good laugh. Merlin was stumped for a few seconds; he really didn't know how he was going to prove it.

"I'll...find a way" Merlin insisted giving as much of a menacing glare towards Arthur as he could. Arthur raised an eyebrow and looked Merlin over.

"And what do you expect to happen if you can prove it?" The Prince questioned, sounding almost intrested with the prospect Merlin had presented. Merlin hadn't thought of this yet.

"I want some respect." Merlin replied after a moment, shaking his head up and down. Arthur laughed.

"You always set you're standards so low Merlin. If we're going to make it a contest, we may as well make it a good one." Arthur walked up to Merlin and gave him a firm look. "I'll tell you what, You get one week to see if you can prove that 'Clotpole' is a word. If you can't do it, as I suspect you can't, then you can never, ever, complain about anything ever again." Arthur paused for a moment and Merlin was about the speak when Arthur added "And...You have to clean all the Knights armour for a week." Merlin's mouth fell open.

"You can not be serious!" He almost yelped. Arthur gave a snide smile and waited for Merlin's response. _'Alright then...My turn.' _Merlin looked up and returned Arthurs snide smile."fine. But I want to change my conditions. If I win...I get to be King for two weeks." Arthur stood up a little, and his smile disapeared, but Merlin's stayed put. Arthur remained silent for a few minutes, thinking and Merlin thought for a bit that Arthur was going to tell Merlin to shove off and forget about that whole thing. But then the smile returned to The Prince's face and clapped Merlin on the shoulder.

"Alright then, If you win, you get to be king for a day." Arthur said cheerfully. Merlin gave him a look.

"I said Two weeks, not 1 Day." Merlin replied tilting his head to the side. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Fine then, One Week?" Arthur gave him a hard stare, but finally took a deep breath and gave in.

"It's not like you're going to win any ways, what am I worried about." He shrugged and walked back to his wardrobe to finish getting dressed. Merlin felt a warm smile spread across his face, and he found himself whistling while he continued picking up the clothing he had dropped.

"I hope you're looking forward to polishing my armor Merlin, because you're not winning this." Arthur called, and Merlin stopped whistling and glanced over at him. There was no way he was letting Arthur win, not this suddenly remembered what he had to do to win. _'Now how do I prove it's a real word?'_

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**Congrats on finishing the first chapter. I never really liked that ending, but after writing and re-writing different endings, nothing ever felt quite right. However, I am currently writing the second chapter, just because I was so looking forward to writing the Second chapter. I hope you enjoyed and I hope you keep coming back for more. **


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